Banana helps Sleep Apnea Patients (keyboard damage alert)

Well, I've I've probably learned as about bananas and Australia in this thread than I had gained in the many years before. Sad that most of what I thought I knew about Australia came from movies, and we know how accurate they are. The only one I saw that gave any enlightenment on society was the Rabbit Proof Fence. When a friend and I left that movie, we were supposed to go for some girl talk over dessert and coffee, but we were so deep in thought, we barely spoke.

Here in the U.S. my heritage goes back to the hills and hollows of the northwest corner of Virginia, where in my mind and heart was nothing less than paradise. It was the home of my parents who transplanted to Ohio, and "down home" was only place we "vacationed". All my life I've seen the people of that region presented as caricatures by those who think they know, and couldn't reconcile those images with my experiences. I've done a bit of research about the history of the people of that region when exploring the term Melungeon, and have found it ineresting the names attached to the various ethnic blends that occupied the coastline and inland to the mountains. Clearly beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I'm glad I'm not beholden to anyone else's idea of beauty.

Kiralynx wrote:

dsm wrote:http://www.livenews.com.au/livewire/ban ... 4/5/201903

I just got told about this news item from someone who heard the story on TV in NZ.

It is novel

DSM,

Well, I'm always interested in nutritionally related issues. Unfortunately, the article does not specify whether theywere using green or ripe bananas...

...with my luck, they used green ones, and I can only have very ripe ones. There is a difference. (Ripening changes the polysaccharides (starches) and disaccharides into mostly monosaccharides.)

Kiralynx, I read ripe bananas: "As a part of this research study eight healthy women were selected and were given a drink that contained 130 grams of ripe-banana."

feeling_better wrote:OK, getting back to the original Banana topic. Seriously, is the purported banana benefit as a result of the surface contact with the throat area, or is it from the digestion of bananas? It is not clear from the post. If the former, then a banana juice gargle (a la tea gargle) might get you the benefit without the extra calories?

Sorry, to those who hate bananas: this question is not for you Seriously, does anybody read any related original research articles?

I don't think the original article clearly states whether the positive effects of bananas are post-digestive (systemic effects), topical (and presumably more surface-related), some combination, or neither.

But when you read these lines in the original summary article, one can probably infer that lubricating or surfactant effects on surface tension are in the realm of consideration:

Preliminary results of a study from the University of New England in NSW show the phospholipids, or fatty acids, in bananas stay active in the mouth for six hours.

(My speculative/interpretive comment: a surface-localized observation, versus a systemic biochemical observation or measurement)

Researchers gave eight healthy women a drink containing 130 grams of ripe banana and checked for active phospholipids at one, two, four and six hour intervals.

(My speculative/interpretive comment: ripe bananas tend to have significantly more lubricating oil than unripe bananas; however, the chemical makeup is also altered)

The banana smoothie was most effective when consumed after teeth brushing, he said.

(My speculative/interpretive comment: brushing and rinsing will offset residual surface oils more than would that same process offset post-digestive or systemic biochemical loading; this differential finding also helps eliminate placebo effect)

But along the above vein of ripe and oily bananas used as lubricant, there's a fair amount of additional research discussing apnea in relation to upper-airway surface tension and lubricating surfactants in general:
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en ... tnG=Search
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en ... tnG=Search

feeling_better wrote:If the former, then a banana juice gargle (a la tea gargle) might get you the benefit without the extra calories?

That just might be the case.

kopoloff wrote:

<snipped out irrelevant facts >

Sorry dsm, but the facts had to be stated.

K

Yup its true Melb, Adelaide, Brisbane & Darwin weren't penal colonies. Perth was a mix & Sydney & Tassie & Norfolk Island were the true penal settlements. That is the British govt chose those places as big prison farms.

As for the other points, you are certainly right about the people & the cities - but sailing into Sydney harbour on a sunny morning after a trip from England (done it 2 times - once as a 10quid pom ) is a life experience that must have given all those transportees just a glimmer of hope & glory. That experince just doesn't occur when sailing into Melb's port philip bay (even if Sorento at the mouth is so quaint).

Also, all the money & power crims who were able to wangle their way out of their Sydney predicament went to Melb & that is where money & power is still exercised in this country today. Sydney remains window dressing hiding a penal colony. Also Kiwi crims preferred to do business in Melb & we are seeing a TV series reflecting that reality (Underbelly - Tale of two cities).

Beyond those minor corrections you summed Melb vs Sydney well.

DSM

PS Brisbane became the banana capital of Australia & even today a Queenslander is affectionately called a 'banana bender' - Banana are after all what started this thread

-SWS wrote:But when you read these lines in the original summary article, one can probably infer that lubricating or surfactant effects on surface tension are in the realm of consideration

-SWS, That was what I was thinking too. Good to hear a confirmation. Thank you.

It is not clear which type --more ripe or less ripe ones -- has more of this beneficial chemical...

Beyond those minor corrections you summed Melb vs Sydney well

thanks dsm

Don't tell anyone, but I love Sydney. And yes, the harbour is beautiful.

Did you tell anyone about Tasmanians? You know, how when the airlines fly into and out of Tasmania they have to have extra flight crew because there's twice as many mouths to feed. And about Queensland. Never wear an analog watch when crossing the border. That whizzing backwards through 30 years is guaranteed to destroy them.

Cheers

K

Kopoloff, DSM is right - all jokes & simulated rivalry aside, you summed up the situation between Melbourne and Sydney very well.

And yes, I love Melbourne too, although Sydney is my first and greatest love! In Melbourne it is easier by far to find your way around, the public transport is much better, and you have great restaurants and nightlife, even in the suburbs.

Isn't it bizarre how a post about bananas (uuugh!) can evolve into a discussion about the merits (and lack of) of two great cities.

Now, can we gang up on Queensland?

K

dsm wrote: PS Re southern style food, we did have an asignee from Austin Texas in a project I was running for Big Blue many years ago. This Texan's wife introduced us to the delights of 'Chicken Fried Steaks'. She also would bring with her, to any BBQ we had, an extra large bottle of Tomato Ketchup. Her husband liked his hamburgers to accompany his plate of ketchup (big as they were (his wife would take the meat pattys we prepared & flatten them to twice their original size) ) . He could clean up half a bottle of that sauce at one BBQ. -- (I looked up CFS to see what I could find about it - seems it came from Texas & is the official state meal of nextdoor Oakie-lahoma )

D

I'm suffering from banana overload and want to go back to chicken fried steak. (Hmmm...wonder how those fried bananas would be with cream gravy?) I seldom eat chicken fried steak anymore since I rarely eat red meat. But my two top picks in Austin for CFS are the Broken Spoke and Threadgill's -- their CFSs are very different from one another, but both really good. Of course CFS comes with cream gravy, but many years ago there was a popular dive here called the Stallion Drive-In. The gravy on their CFS was...well, orange. It wasn't a tribute to the University of Texas as it wasn't UT burnt orange but rather a lighter, more yellowish orange. If you could get past it, the CFS was good.

The Stallion closed a long time ago, but back in the mid-80's I had occasion to eat at the Manchaca Volunteer Fire Department. Yes, you heard right. This volunteer fire department just south of Austin runs a restaurant to raise money for the department. And there it was -- CFS with orangish gravy. Whoo hooo! I decided that when the Stallion closed, a jar of that gravy was saved and it became the "starter" gravy for the Manchaca Fire Department. I like to believe that the fire department gravy shares some DNA with the Stallion gravy. And for the health conscious, the fire department serves chicken fried turkey. Of course with orange gravy.

What the hell could be in that gravy to make it that color?

JZ

Ok, I just ate a banana ... I'm going to bed ... I'll let y'all know what happened in the morning.

DreamStalker wrote:Ok, I just ate a banana ... I'm going to bed ... I'll let y'all know what happened in the morning.

Okay... But just look at my avatar and note that I was also human before that same experiment.

Kopoloff won't even come over for lunch anymore, now that burgers and pizza are out of the question...

Kopoloff won't even come over for lunch anymore, now that burgers and pizza are out of the question

Ants my friend, ants.

And by the way, my best friends call me The Kop. Which is the title of my book.

K

-SWS wrote:

DreamStalker wrote:Ok, I just ate a banana ... I'm going to bed ... I'll let y'all know what happened in the morning.

Okay... But just look at my avatar and note that I was also human before that same experiment.

Kopoloff won't even come over for lunch anymore, now that burgers and pizza are out of the question...

Well my AHI for last night after eating one ripe banana was 0.3.

However the two previous nights I had 0.0 AHI without eating any banana ... you decide.

As for the reverse evolution effect, I'm not sure I see the correlation yet.

kopoloff wrote:

-SWS wrote:Kopoloff won't even come over for lunch anymore, now that burgers and pizza are out of the question

Ants my friend, ants.

Well, I have exactly two ants. Sadly, they went off to live in an ant colony---after both of my uncles left for lives at sea as professional shrimpers. At this point in the thread I'll be darned if I'll even divulge what continent their ant colony is on (hint: it may or may be on the North American continent near Chicago----but then again it may not even be those exact thirty-two miles from the zoo where I live.).

kopoloff wrote:And by the way, my best friends call me The Kop. Which is the title of my book.

Kop, if that book is available anywhere close to the Chicago-area ant colony that may not even exist, then I'll gladly buy the book. I enjoy your posts...

DreamStalker wrote:Well my AHI for last night after eating one ripe banana was 0.3.

However the two previous nights I had 0.0 AHI without eating any banana ... you decide.

The Banana Growers Association, who surreptitiously funded the study at the beginning of this thread, just may try to suppress those findings. So be careful! Politically, they can be a band of menacing gorillas as far as I'm concerned.

DreamStalker wrote:As for the reverse evolution effect, I'm not sure I see the correlation yet.

Love that avatar! Be aware that my shrink at the zoo explained denial is the first of seven stages associated with any primate's banana-induced devolution.

[quote="mars"]Good on you DSM for posting that news item.

I was wary about posting it myself as a newcomer as I have learned that there are some forum members who like nothing better than to put others down,

I've been reading comments like this more often lately and I'm hoping this forum is not getting that reputation. I've been here for awhile now and have never personally encountered improper behavior, and believe me, I've asked some really silly, confusing and repetitive questions! I've always received prompt replies, serious opinions, good suggestions and most important, encouragement and a welcoming spirit from everyone. This forum is the reason for my husband's successful therapy and this nervous nelly spouse could not have done it without all of you! Dori